The Met Office has issued Amber 'be prepared' warnings for Fife, Central Scotland and the Highlands, cautioning residents that heavy rain was likely to lead to localised flooding and travel disruption.

A house in Dura Den in Fife was almost swept away by the weight of the flood water after almost 36 hours of rain

The east of the country has been worst affected, with a number of incidents in Fife. A house in Dura Den in Fife was almost destroyed after rushing water caused a road to collapse. The man, ironically named Storm Hughes, told BBC he was woken up to find half his house had been swept away.

"My neighbour knocks on my room, burst in with his head torch on and said 'Storm you are flooded in'," he said.

"I asked do you want to grab some sandbags and he said 'it's a bit late for that'."

A number of people were rescued from stranded cars on Thursday after motorists attempted to drive through deep water.

A woman waves from a window after parts of Fife were flooded

A spokeswoman for Fife Fire and Rescue said “It has been raining for a day now so problems are building up on the roads. A couple of drivers have not realised how deep some puddles are and tried to drive through them and ended up stuck.

“East Neuk and the Cupar area are worst affected at the moment and we have appliances out clearing roads in those areas.”

Stirling Castle surrounded in the early morning mist looked beautiful, but elsewhere in Scotland rain was already lashing homes and businesses.

Scotland's stark weather conditions follow heavy rainfall in the South West of Britain. In the Devon village of Clovelly the force of the flood water was so great that cobbles were pulled up as it surged down towards the harbour.

A resident filmed the full force of the floodwater on Thursday

Gallons of muddy brown water pours into the streets

Two motorists were rescued after becoming stranded while driving through floodwater in the area, prompting emergency services to issue fresh warnings about driving through floodwater.

Paula Cook a resident in the village told the Press Association:

"It was like the high street had been turned into a river.

"I have never seen anything like it."

The Environment Agency put 24 flood alerts in place across the South West on Thursday night, highlighting the risk of possible localised flooding, with seven further flood alerts, a more serious warning.

Although the weather is likely to brighten up over the weekend, problems caused by flooding are likely to persist after parts of the UK had over 36 hours of rain. However most of the UK will experience a few hours of sunshine on Sunday.